1965: Walt Disney reveals to the world the plans to build Disney World in Central Florida, a prime location due to its superb warm weather.
1971: The first theme park, named The Magic Kingdom Park, opens its doors to the public. This opening was celebrated with a parade featuring the Disney characters and 76 trombones. The attractions included: The Haunted Mansion, Mad Tea Cups, Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride, and more.
1977: On June 11th, The Main Street Electrical Parade debuted. This was the first nighttime parade. Guests were very impressed due to their ability to bring Disney fairy-tale characters to life with lights.
1982: The debut of the theme park Epcot on October 1st. The opening attractions include: Spaceship Earth, The American Adventure, Universe of Energy, and Kitchen Kabaret
1989: The water park Typhoon Lagoon opens June 1st with the popular attraction of Mount Mayday.
1995: The water park Disney’s Blizzard Beach debuts on April Fool’s Day.
1996: The Magic Kingdom celebrates its 25th anniversary. To celebrate this occasion, they turned Cinderella Castle into 18-story birthday cake.
1998: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park opens. This park featured the first attraction inspired by a Pixar film called It’s Tough to Be A Bug!
2003: The debut of the “Wishes” nighttime fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. Also, the first baby elephant born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on May 2nd named Tufani.
2008: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park makes its debut in replacement of Disney-MGM’s Studios.
2009: Announcement of major expansion of Fantasyland which will be double the size with the creation of new attractions based on the “Beauty and the Beast”, “Snow White”, and “The Little Mermaid”. Full completion finished in 2014 after two phases on construction.
2016: the 45th anniversary of the opening of the entire theme park. Also, on October 7th the park was forced to shut down for the fourth time due to Hurricane Matthew.